


Growing Up Royal

by IrisofParadise



Series: The Real Housewives of Royalty [1]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Gen, Modern Royalty, Original Character(s), Royalty AU, Vladimir Ranskahov/Karen Page brotp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-01
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-05-17 12:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5869984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrisofParadise/pseuds/IrisofParadise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a set of ficlets that take place during the royalty au. During this bit, they are all children.<br/>AU in which Karen is the Princess of Latvia and is a vindictive little brat. Vladimir is the Prince of Russia. Anatoly deserves a fucking raise. Matt finds out he's the Prince of Ireland and wants out. Foggy thinks he was made for royal life. Clint is a human disaster Prince of Denmark. Thor and Loki are Princes of Norway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Can Wait to be King

**Author's Note:**

> Just a type of Prequel to my actual fic. Jack lives because he and Matt deserve a healthy and happy relationship. Fight me.  
> Title from The Lion King 'I Can't Wait to be King'. Because it fits.

Jonathan 'Jack' Murdock, Prince of Ireland, is twenty-three years old when he meets Maggie. It's not long before they're falling in love and having a small wedding, just them. He sends pictures to his mother back home in Ireland and receives a letter back telling him that he should have brought Maggie to Ireland and had a real royal wedding.

He's twenty-five when Matt comes into the picture. Maggie's pregnancy was hard on both them and their marriage, which ultimately ended up falling apart. Jack had hoped that after the baby was born, everything would go back to normal. But it didn't. It actually skyrockets downwards so fast he thinks he may have just suffered whiplash from it.

Maggie is diagnosed with postpartum depression. And decides that she doesn't want anything to do with Jack or Matthew. Which ends up being just fine to Jack. He raises Matty perfectly well on his own he thinks. Even though his mother tries her damned hardest to convince him to move back home.

“Honestly, Jonathan!” She had tsked as she held the six month old Matthew in her arms, “There's nursemaids here and you wouldn't ever have to worry about a babysitter when you go out! Isn't that right, Matty” she coos the last bit to the giggling baby

“I don't need help, Mother,” he says simply with a forced grin to the worrying woman.

The woman just huffs at him and coos down to the six month old baby in her arms. “Well, I do hope that you'll be visiting me more often!”

He does. He brings Matty to Ireland for Christmas break and the summer.

His accent begins to fade the longer he lives in Hell's Kitchen, New York. And he finds that he rather likes living the life of a normal person, not really having to be bound to royal duties and the like. Royal decorum was always just so boring and difficult to remember. And he enjoyed watching his son grow up like a normal child would. He had a decent enough job. Turns out he was rather good at boxing.

Matt gets into an accident that costs him his eyesight when he's nine. When the child turns ten, Jack sits him down and tells him about his home and his country and his family.

Matt just tilts his head to the side, eyebrows scrunched together in curiosity. “Is that why Grandma is always so busy when we go visit her during the summer? Cause she's in charge of a country?” Jack gave his confirmation and Matt grinned widely. “So does that mean I get to run the country too one day?! I'm gonna be a king?!”

At this point Jack had burst out laughing at the excitement that was rolling off of his son. “It doesn't exactly work that way, but yeah. Sure.”

And Matt quickly learned that he liked the  _ idea _ of being royalty a lot better than actually being royalty. Once he was in the know, he was forced to go to royal meetings. Balls, dinners, sitting in with his grandma and dad at government meetings. They were all so boring and the clothes were so uncomfortable and he absolutely despised it all.

They're into their second week of the summer in Ireland when Matt is once again having to be bribed into his nice clothes. He decides that he is not above whining to get out of having to attend the fancy dinner. “Do I have to go though?”

“You know that you do, Matty. Now come on,” Jack laughed out as he helped Matt button his shirt. And by help, he had to do it. Because Matt was stalling and not getting dressed at all. “Besides, I thought you wanted to be a king.”

Matt scowled at him, which Jack thinks he shouldn't find as cute as he does, arms crossing over his chest in annoyance. “I don't anymore. Can I be overthrown now? Can I just overthrow myself and go back to Hell's Kitchen?”

Jack laughed harder. “Doesn't work that way kiddo,” he said simply as he ruffled Matt's hair.

“Aww.”

“Now come on, we gotta get downstairs. Some of the other kids are supposed to be coming tonight.”

Matt groans but lets his dad lead the way back downstairs. And an hour later he's met the young Princess Diane of France who he can say without a doubt he cannot stand her. He's never wanted to hit anyone, let alone a girl, so bad before in his life. And then he's meeting Princess Karen of Latvia and though she's annoying because she talks too much and too fast, he likes her a lot more than Princess Diane who in his opinion is just a stuck up snotty brat.

“-and you'll like when you get to come to my palace one day, Matthew!” Karen continues to talk, not noticing as Matt has begun to ignore her a bit. “Prince Clint is a dork and he doesn't act very princely but you'll like it when we all go to his palace. He's got a boat! And hopefully you won't have to meet Prince Vladimir! He's kind of a jerk but his brother is pretty okay.”

“That's cool, Karen.”

The blonde girl lights up almost brighter than the City of Light. She's developed her first crush on the young prince.

Matt does end up meeting Prince Clint of Denmark two and a half weeks later. And he's pretty sure that it's not normal for royals to fall into a the trash. The eleven year old just laughs loudly at his appalled face and holds his hand out and grabs onto Matt's before giving a firm, energetic shake. “Hi! I'm Clint. You're new.”

“Uh... Matt.”

He learns pretty quickly that Prince Clint; “Just Clint man. Prince is so boring!”; is probably the biggest human disaster he's ever met. And the kid is only eleven. When he later tells his dad about how he met Clint his dad is far more amused than Matt thinks should be allowed.

“Honestly, that kid falls into the trash for more often than is normal. Not that falling into trash should be normal but Clint takes it to a whole new level. No one knows how it hasn't ended up in the papers yet,” Jack states simply. This does nothing but confuse Matt even more on royal life. 


	2. For the First Time in Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anatoly becomes Tzar of Russia while Vladimir thinks that Karen is the biggest brat ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Child Princess Karen is my favorite ever I swear. Also the chapter's title is from Frozen. Because literally, that's all I could imagine.

Vladimir almost feels bad for falling asleep during his brother's coronation. Almost being the keyword here. He's ten years old and just wants to go back home. Get out of his royal attire which is just too itchy for his comfort and sleep. He misses his parents. He jerks awake as the small child next to him starts to 'whisper' to her parents about how bored she is and how she doesn't want to be here. And he knows that she's five and just as bored as he is but still. It doesn't give her any right to talk during his brother's coronation.

Young Princess Karen ends up talking throughout the whole coronation and Vladimir is almost tempted to snap at her to please keep her mouth shut. But he knows that that's rude and Anatoly would be very disappointed in him if he does this. So he just bites his tongue, quite literally actually, and faces forward.

He gives a small wave accompanied by a large grin to his brother and the elder Russian gives a reassuring grin back to the child before his face falls back into a neutral expression.

The rest of the coronation goes by slowly, far too slowly for either of the Russian princes care for. Anatoly frowns as he thinks that to himself. He's not a prince any more. He's the Tzar of Russia. And that makes him frown because he's got so much more responsibility than he did one week ago.

Later when it's just him and his baby brother at their palace and they're both in their pajamas do they both grieve once more for their parents and the cards they've been dealt in life. Anatoly pulls the ten year old into his lap and hugs the blonde close, humming a soft lullaby into the blonde hair. “ _It will be okay, Vova_ ,” he whispers.

Vladimir just nods, not really fully believing his brother but trusting him all the same. “ _I don't like Princess Karen. She's a brat_ ,” he sniffles out.

Anatoly chokes on his laughter. “ _Is that so_?”

The blonde just nods and holds onto Anatoly tighter. “ _She really is_.”

“ _I am sure you will think differently one day. What if she's the girl you marry? Hm?_ ” Anatoly laughs as Vladimir jerks back to shoot him a look full of disgust, tongue sticking out and eyes squeezed shut in distaste. “ _Vova! That's so rude!”_ He laughs out in a false stern tone but there's no real heat in his words. And he knows that Vladimir knows this.

“ _I don't care if it's rude or not! Princess_ ,” the blonde practically sneers as he says her title sarcastically, “ _Karen is a brat. She talked during the whole coronation!_ ”

Anatoly raises an eyebrow in amusement, pulls Vladimir into a tighter hug. “ _Well she is five,_ ” he tries, though not very hard, to defend the little girl. Vladimir just groans and flops himself away from Anatoly to land onto the fluffy bed. Anatoly grins to himself before he's diving in and tickling his brother.

As the blonde lets out yells of, “ _Tolik, no! Tolik stop!_ ” Anatoly thinks that maybe everything isn't too awful. He still has Vladimir, so everything isn't completely awful in his life.


	3. Let Them Eat Cake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princess Karen is a brat. James Wesley is afraid for his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Princess Karen is my spirit animal at this point.

James knew that he was supposed to be watching Karen. Her parents had trusted him to this simple task and instead he had lost her. But really, it wasn't his fault! Honest.

Karen's parents had turned to walk back into the palace, leaving him and Karen by the river, and as soon as they were gone and he had turned to the six year old, she had lost her grin and very simply told him, “I'm going to hide your body where they'll never find it,” and had then pushed him into said river after kicking him in the shin and snatching his glasses from his face.

When he had managed to stand up in the river, gasping in surprise and because some water had gotten into his mouth, he couldn't see her. He couldn't see much actually.

“Karen?!” the ten year old shouts out, glaring at the blurry scenery around him. “Princess Karen, where are you?!” He yells as he stomps his way out of the river and towards where he can see the blurry outline of the palace.

A few guards stare at him, eyebrows raised in a mixture of amusement and curiosity, as he stomps around the courtyard.

“KAREN?! KAREN, WHERE ARE YOU?!”

The sopping wet brunette stomps over to where they are just barely managing to hold in their laughter and glares at them. “Do you know where she is?!”

One of the guards coughs in an attempt to smother down his laughs. “Ah, no, Sir James I am afraid that we do not.”

James scowls before letting out another yell of, “KAREN, YOU ARE GOING TO BE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE! WHERE ARE YOU, KAREN?!” As he stomps his way back into the palace, slipping from the water still dripping from his soaked form.

No one is able to find the young six year old princess until it's dinner time and she just ever so daintily makes her way to the dining room. Her mother takes one look at her smug child and sighs before stating, “Now honey, you're not in trouble,” James' mouth drops open in surprise, “but why would you do that to poor James here?”

“He annoys me! So I was going to drown him,” the six year old states simply with an innocent grin, a mean glint in her eyes as she looks right at James. Who still doesn't have his glasses.

“Now honey, you can't just drown people if they annoy you. What are you going to do when you're queen and people annoy you?”

“Behead them,” Karen almost sings out as she stabs her fork into her dinner.

James puts a hand to his neck and stares at the shocked Queen and King in concern. The subject is dropped, but James never forgets this day. Mostly because he was never given his glasses back.


	4. How to Train Your Royals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princes Thor, Loki, and Clint play vikings. Princess Karen is Queen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Literally while writing this all I could think about was How to Train Your Dragon.

It's during the middle of summer that Prince Thor and Prince Loki meet the visiting young royals Prince Clint and Princess Karen. The four decide to skip maths lessons after the interesting history lesson on vikings and use their new-found knowledge to play a game of vikings.

The game they set up is simple. The eight year old Princess is the 'Queen' and eight year old Loki, nine year old Clint, and eleven year old Thor are her 'viking warriors'.

Karen twirls a strand of her blonde hair around her finger and puts on her best serious queen look. “You must bring your queen gifts to keep me happy,” she says.

So the three boys take this to mean pillage each other's bedrooms in search of interesting goods for the 'queen'. So they let out yells and run off through the palace in search of anything that's amazing enough to present to Karen.

She is soon given a stray puppy, courtesy of Clint, a few shiny coins from Loki, and Thor's crown. All of which she declared unfit for her status as queen.

“I want something shinier. I'm a queen and queens wear shiny jewels guys. So go find me jewels, because I told you to,” she had said with a her best haughty expression.

So they run off with loud yells of, “BECAUSE YOU TOLD US TO!”

It's as the trio of princes are walking down a hallway that Loki notices a portrait of his mother with her crown jewels on. He quickly taps on Thor and points and Thor lights up in understanding.

“Come on!” Thor whispers before he's running down the hall towards his mother and father's rooms, footsteps thundering loudly. Clint and Loki race to keep up with the taller boy.

They very sneakily slip into the room, thankful that it's empty, and make their way over to the jewelry box where Queen Frigga keeps her jewels. Not her crown jewels mind you, just her nice jewelry and a fancy tiara or two. Clint picks up a gold necklace with diamonds, Loki picks up Frigga's amethyst tiara. Thor picks up a golden mirror from his mother's vanity and a quick grin shared between the boys and they're once more racing back to where 'Queen' Karen awaits them.

King Odin and Queen Frigga walk into the room and stop for a moment as they see the eight year old girl looking into a mirror while wearing Frigga's tiara. Karen just glances up at them before looking back into her mirror with a statement of, “This tiara makes my head look small.”

James scoffs from where he's sitting. “Well you have no brain, so that doesn't help matters.”


	5. Under the Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Princess Karen, Prince Clint, and Prince Vladimir christen a boat. Almost. One of them gets thrown off the boat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagined them all to be in traditional clothes in this chapter for some reason. Because lil 9 year old Karen in Latvian dress! I love! I mean http://www.latvianstuff.com/images/AubesUnVainagi.jpg is just so cute! 14 year old Vladimir in traditional Russian clothes! Clint in Danish! My heart cannot.  
> Title from The Little Mermaid. Tell me that's not perfect. Denmark!

Really, playing around on the boat was not the best idea the three young royals had ever had. They only came to this conclusion after the fourteen year old Prince of Russia had let out a loud yelp before his body was crashing into the water though. As Prince Clint of Denmark and Princess Karen of Latvia stared worriedly over the edge of the boat they couldn't help but be more concerned about how much trouble they were going to be in before they even thought about worrying about Vladimir's safety.

Vladimir's head popped up from below the water with a loud cough and shouts between the coughing of, “I am going to throw you both off the boat! See how you two like it! Quit laughing at me and get me up!”

So Clint and Karen nodded to the swimming prince and began to look for something to toss down to him and pull him up. They were hoping that if they could pull him back to the boat and bribe him to not tell on them, maybe no one would notice he was soaking wet and then no one would know that they had accidentally pushed him over the boat.

But alas, that was not what happened. Because James had seen what the two younger blondes had done to the Russian and immediately run off to tell Anatoly and Bernard 'Barney' about the incident. As imaginable, both elder brothers were very unamused with their younger siblings and the young Princess Karen.

After getting over his initial worry that his fourteen year old brother was going to drown Anatoly was very annoyed. “Honestly you three! What makes you think that this was a good idea?”

“What were you three even trying to do?!” Barney shouts, not even giving them enough time to think of a response to Anatoly's question.

Vladimir shrugs and looks down, unable to stop himself from shivering though he tried hard. Karen just mumbled something in Latvian under her breath, too afraid to look up at the adults.

Clint grinned up at Barney excitedly, “We were going to christen the boat! But someone,” he stared at Vladimir who scowled right back at him, “dropped the wine into the water.”

“You pushed me off the boat!”

Karen doesn't even bother trying to hide her snickers as Anatoly groaned.


	6. Rotten to the Core

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vladimir and Karen are brotp now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess which movie I watched recently.  
> This is also the chapter when Vladimir and Karen became brotp for this whole series.

Karen is ten years old and there are two people who never fail to make her angry in her life. One she only has to see sometimes, which she is forever thankful for, Prince Vladimir of Russia. He gets on her nerves with his haughty expression and knack for always managing to get her into trouble. Even though she does consider him a very good friend that doesn't change the fact that he's a big huge jerk. The other person she can't stand is James Wesley who will one day be one of her advisers. He always acted as though he knew oh so much more than she ever could.

She's visiting the Alexander Palace when she sees the young fifteen year old prince holding a bucket as he looks down over the balcony in his palace and she can't help but be curious and worried. Even more so when she sees James almost directly below the balcony, right in line for Vladimir to tip the bucket over and for its contents to spill all over the slightly younger boy.

So she moves to stand right next to the older blonde and whisper softly, “What's in the bucket?” She doesn't look at him, just continues to stare down at Wesley who looks rather lost and slightly bored.

Cold blue eyes turn to almost glare at her. “Sh! Is snow! Going to dump it on his prissy little ass. Want to help?”

She can tell that if she says no she does not want to help and he really shouldn't do it, he's still going to do it. But the blonde girl shakes her head all the same. And just as expected, he shrugs and dumps the bucket right on James. Then pushes the bucket into Karen's arms and jumps back, fully expecting for Karen to follow suit.

She does not.

James lets out a loud yell as the coldness seeps through his clothes and feels as though it's seeping into his bones. A glare upwards and all he sees is a giggling Karen with a bucket in her hands. “Princess Karen! I'm telling on you!” The fourteen year old shouts up to the little girl.

Karen tilts her head in confusion before she seems to finally notice the bucket that had been pushed into her hands. The blonde turns to glare at Vladimir who is leaning against the wall further away from the balcony, looking far too innocent. “You set me up!” She hissed out, dropping the bucket so that she could put her hands on her hips and glare sternly up at the older boy, just like how her mother would do to her when she was in trouble.

Vladimir shrugged. Then nudged a bucket that was next to his feet. “You may as well now, little princess,” he states, accent thicker in his barely concealed amusement.

A glance down from the balcony and Karen can still see and just barely hear as James grumbles about how much trouble she's going to be in and how he had better not get sick. She then takes the offered bucket and dumps it onto James just as Vladimir had done moments ago. James lets out another yell and the blondes both burst out laughing at his rage.

Neither notice as James runs off, slipping a bit from the snow melting everywhere around him, to go and tattle to an adult. They just slide to the floor and laugh louder. Until Anatoly's voice is yelling out dryly, “Vladimir! Karen! Get down here right now!”

Then they fall silent, faces pale as they realize that they've both been caught and are in a world of trouble. A glance to each other and they wonder if they stay silent, will Anatoly think they aren’t there?

“Now!” He yells up, hands on his hips and tone much more annoyed now.

Apparently not.

Slowly and groaning the two make their way downstairs to the foyer.

Vladimir immediately holds his hands up and puts on his best innocent face. _“Tolik, I can explain!”_ Anatoly just raises an eyebrow, silently telling Vladimir to continue. _“It was all her fault!”_ Vladimir points to Karen. _“All her idea!”_

Karen can't understand what he's saying but she can tell when she's being set up to take a fall so she scowls up at him. “I didn't do anything! He did it first!”

“Did no such thing!”

“You did so!” Karen shouts before she sticks her tongue out at the older boy.

Anatoly pinches the bridge of his nose and lets out a sigh after mentally counting to ten. “Why would you two even do this?” A gesture to the shivering teenager. James' glasses were slipping down his nose and he was trying to clench his jaw to keep his teeth from chattering. It wasn't working as well as he was hoping it would.

The blondes just shared a quick look.

Vladimir shrugged, arms crossing over his chest and expression falling into a more bored look. “We were bonding.”

Karen nods in agreement. “We were strengthening the ties between our countries. Latvia now considers Russia their biggest ally.”

Anatoly scowled at them. “ _Go to your room Vova._ Printsessa Karen, let's go find your parents, da? And let’s try to find James here a change of clothes.”


	7. You Aint Ever Had a Friend Like Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Foggy is too pure for this world.

"Matty, I know that you hate this whole royal life thing, but I think that I was literally made for it," Foggy said as he moved around to make himself more comfortable once more on Matt's Grandma's throne. He was now lying on it, feet flopping over one side.

Matt just huffed and continued his pacing in front of the throne as he continued to complain. "No, you don't understand-"

"I sure don't!" Foggy interrupted as he moved around once more. "You've got everything you could possibly want here man! Maids to clean your room!" Another ruffling noise as he moved across the throne to get more comfortable, "Guards. Awesome food anytime of the day because the chef people love you!" Matt shrugged, half amused and half in agreement. "Awesome crown!"

"Crown kinda sucks, but sure." Matt smirks slightly as Foggy huffs at him and blows a raspberry.

"Point still stands, dear best friend of mine. You have everything awesome here and you still insist on hating it," Foggy says simply, moving around as he re-situated himself once more.

The blind boy sighed again. "I know. But I just don't like it. I thought it'd be more fun than boring meetings and school work all the time. I have to go to school during the summer, Fog!"

Foggy shrugged. "I know. I sit in with you. I kinda like it though! Ireland has awesome history! And just think, when we get into high school, we're gonna ace all of our history tests!" The blonde laughed as his best friend just let out another groan. Then began to fidget once more on the throne. "Lovin' this throne so much. Such a fancy chair. I need ten."

Matt rolled his eyes, even though he knew that Foggy wouldn't see from behind his glasses. "Ask my grandma. Maybe she'll let you take it." He bit back a smirk as he heard his grandmother enter the room.

Foggy perked up even more, seemingly not noticing as the queen came in. "Really? You think so?"

"Highly unlikely. I am quite fond of that chair actually," the woman said with an amused look in her eyes, the rest of her expression neutral.

Foggy let out a surprised yelp and quickly moved to stand up as if he'd never been sitting in the throne. But instead he fell into a heap on the floor, much to Matt and the Queen's amusement. "I'm so sorry! I won't do it again!" Foggy promised, face slightly pale in worry.

"Well I should hope not! If you're going to sit on a throne, you must learn to do it properly. Watch me now."

Foggy grins widely while Matt just rolls his eyes at his grandmother and best friend, the two biggest dorks he knows.


End file.
